How to keep your audiences leaning on your every word while making them TALL (Think, Act, Laugh, and Learn)

August 27, 2009

How to Clarify your Message, Shorten it, and make it Stick

Would you like a surefire way to clarify your message, shorten it, and make it stick? One of the best ways to do this is to relate the unknownto theknown.In textbook language this is referred to as activating prior knowledge.Analogies help tremendously in this area. Webster’s New World Dictionary’s definition of analogy is “similarity in some ways.” Let me give you an example of an analogy I have used that was extremely effective when I used to give this particular message.

A Powerful Analogy

In one of my stories, I start off by saying, “Nobody has ever died from a snakebite.” After the audience tries to figure out what the Dickens I am talking about, I say, “It is the venom circulating throughout your body afterwards that kills you.” With the audience still a bit confused, I go into a story of how one of my ex-girlfriends wronged me, and I compare this to “being bitten.” To carry the analogy further I compare the “anger and hatred” I felt towards her to the venom circulating inside of me. Finally I state that the only way to get rid of that anger, hatred, and venom is forgiveness. Why? “Because just as a snake will bite you and crawl back in its hole, so will a friend hurt you andgo right on with his or her life leaving you to be hurt over and over again.” I then go into selling the benefits of forgiveness.

Why is an analogy important?

Analogies are so important because of the following scenario that occurs quite often with me. Someone approaches me and says, “Craig, I saw you speak 9 or 10 years ago and you talked about the snakebite. Something happened to me and I remembered what you said about nobody ever dying from a snakebite. Man, I realized I had to forgive the person and it really helped me get through that situation.”

The point here is that whether it is one year ago or 10 years ago, people remember your message more clearly if you provide an analogy. Whether you have ever seen a live snake or not, everybody knows what a snakebite is. But not everybody knows that anger and hatred can work the same as venom and be just as destructive. As I often tell my audiences, “If you are holding a grudge, that grudge is also holding you.” Next time someone in my audience is emotionally bitten, hopefully that person will vividly recall how to get the venom out (forgiveness) and return to a grudge-free life.

Other examples:

I’ve heard speakers (including myself) relate the following:

·Crabs in a barrel to negative people

·Being hungry for food to being hungry for their dreams.

·A malignant growth to slavery.

·Not setting goals to drifting aimlessly on a raft.

·Refusing to change to being stuck in the mud.

·A beautiful symphony to racial harmony.

·Opening holiday presents to using your gifts.

·Never going for their goals to living life on get-set

·A telephone call to your life’s calling.

·A train coming to your purpose in life.

·And many more

How do you develop analogies for your points?

Simply keep asking yourself, “What is this similar to? What else has some of the same traits in common?” Do this on a daily basis and in no time at all you will have a habit of finding and thinking in analogies. You do not have to carry the analogy out too far but just far enough to see some similarities between two different entities. Go back to Webster’s definition of “similarities in some ways” and understand that, through training your mind to see similarities, you will be able to find them. Again, keep asking, “What is this similar to?”

Here is a 3-step process for developing your own analogies

1. Take your main message and ask yourself, “What is this message similar to?”

2. Make a list of all the ways the two things you are comparing are similar. For example, with a snakebite compared to being emotionally hurt, I might start my list with the following:

The bite is similar to being hurt by someone emotionally

The snake crawling back in its hole is similar to a person going on with her life after she has hurt you

The way the venom destroys your body is similar to how a grudge destroys your mind and life

Staying with the snake theme, I could use an analogy for a speech about change by comparing it to a snake shedding its skin. In that case I would make a list like the following:

A snake that is not shedding completely is similar to a person who is holding on to some old habits and ways

The temporary sight impairment a snake has during shedding is similar to the unknown zone we must go through during the change process

A snake’s inability to shed leads to death, which is similar to an organization’s inability to change which leads to closing up shop.

3.Once you make your list and draw out the analogy for several levels, then simply go back and pick the best one or two levels upon which you should focus. Don’t use all the levels because your audience will tire of it and say “Enough already.”

One last thing to keep in mind

Check to make sure the analogy you use is appropriate for your specific audience. In other words, it may not be a good idea to use hunting analogies when speaking to an animal rights organization.

Comments

Craig, this is awesome! People love to connect with the familiar and become intrigued by the unfamiliar.

In my new book, Designing for the King, I used the analogy of creation (chaos to order) to reveal the interior design process. Then I kept it live with biblical principals (keeping it in order) to design principals. My hook is order did not end at creation.

I would love to study under you. Can't enroll in your program yet, but I do look forward to your newsletters. By the way, I will be using some of your analogies in my blog presentations at deanamurphy.com --- The Designing for Success Institute.

Do you ever speak in the Philly surrounding areas? My husband and I would love to come and support you.